26 June 2015

The 10 best apps for Christians

I admit it: I'm a geek. As a techie Christian I'm well placed to round up the 10 Best Apps For Christians. As Paul almost said in Romans 1:14: "I am bound both to Geeks and non-Geeks".

YouVersion Bible(Android, iOS, web; free)

When you get the urge to take out your phone, why not look at the good book and not just Facebook? It's pretty amazing that we can now carry around the whole Bible so easily with us wherever we go. There's some debate about how much we should use digital Bibles. I think it would be a big mistake to throw away our physical copies of the Bible, but there are many benefits tothe Bible in app format, not least for sheer convenience. There are lots of good Bible apps available, such as the ESV Bible, OliveTree and so on. But my go-to Bible app of choice is the YouVersion Bible.

PrayerMate(Android, iOS, web coming soon; free)

PrayerMate is designed to help you keep track of everyone and everything you want to pray for, with a daily set of cards to prompt you. Prayer should be a relationship rather than just a list of requests, but it's worth having something to jog the memory about stuff you want to talk to our Father about, and I find having a dedicated app for prayer helps me be more purposeful about it and less likely to get distracted by other notes and to-dos.

Fighter Verses(iOS, Android, £2.29)

When I was younger, I had a packet of Topical Memory System cards with Bible verses on to carry around in my pocket to memorise, and what I learned still sticks with me and blesses me today. Fighter Verses offers a digital version of the same idea. Memorising verses of the Bible is a great way to hide God's Word in your heart.

Rhythms(Android, iPhone; free)

Ever stuck for ideas on how to put your faith into action? This app from Tearfund is designed to help you take small, everyday actions that make a difference in the world, along with inspiring articles and videos.

Bible In One Year(Android, iOS, web; free)

Several people have told me that the Bible In One Year app really helps them in their spiritual walk. The readings take you through the whole Bible in a year, and has helpful commentary each day from Nicky and Pippa Gumbel of Holy Trinity Brompton church. Another one you might also want to check out is WordLive from Scripture Union, for free online devotions available on the web, via an app and as a podcast –great for listening to on the go.

Pocket(Android, iOS, web; free/subscription)

See a fascinating article on threadsuk.com or eauk.org/idea but don't have time to read it? With Pocket, you can save the article to your phone to read later (browser extensions are available for your desktop). I find this is a good way to reduce distractions from websites during the working day – I use it to queue up a reading list for my commute home.

Pocket Casts(Android, iOS, web; £2.99)

Pocket Casts is my favourite podcast app. It has a nice, clean interface and usefulsettings. But the killer feature for me is that it syncs between my Android phone, iPad and the browser player. I can easily pick up whatever I've been listening to on any device, and continue on any other device. There are loads of good Christian shows, sermons and talks available online, like Unbelievable?, Theology Network and Mere Fidelity.

Kindle(Android, iOS, Kindle readers)

Articles and podcasts are all very well, but if you really want to grow in you runderstanding of the faith, then there's no match for reading good books. There are plenty of free classics available from CCEL and Project Gutenberg, as well as modern stuff to buy. Kindle is the most ubiquitous ebook store, of course, though if you don't want to support Amazon, plenty of othe rebook stores are available, such as iBooks and Kobo. You can also buy some ebooks directly from Christian publishers such as IVP, Scripture Union and The Good Book Company.

Goodreads(Android, iOS, web; free)

As well as reading books, it's good to share and discuss them. Goodreads is a socia lnetwork based around what you're reading – you can connect it with Facebook and your Amazon account, and post progress updates, list books to read and write reviews. It's a great way to find out what your friends and authors are reading and get ideas on good books to read, whether Christian or otherwise.

Evernote(Android,iOS, PC, Mac, web; free/subscription)

Evernote's strapline is "remember everything", and it's a digital notebook service that syncs across pretty much every platform available. Many of my threads articles start life as jottings in Evernote, perhaps tapped out on my phone on the train to work. I also have an Evernote notebook on the Bible, gathering sermon notes, insights from Bible studies, articles I've discovered online, tagged by source and book of the Bible. It's all fully searchable, and it's great for digging up those "I'm sure I heard something about that…" pieces of info.

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